I guess the question's purpose is mostly to tackle the assumptions of Christians who prefer a pluralistic society over a theocracy. I understand theocracies have failed repeatedly throughout history, but if the intention of the Church is to be in communion with God, shouldn't our government be that way also? Even if we attempt to have a theocracy in America and fail, wouldn't that be better than a democratic society based on the popular opinion of heretics, apostates, & infidels?
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wouldn't that be better than a democratic society based on the popular opinion of heretics, apostates, & infidels?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: no.
Even if we attempt to have a theocracy in America and fail, wouldn't that be better than a democratic society based on the popular opinion of heretics, apostates, & infidels? image
Shouldn't our government be "that way" too? No, because as you've just mentioned, "that way" is FAILED.
The rest of us exist. Deal with it.
I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point may be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely more because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.
And since Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to Theocracy the worse it will be. A metaphysic held by the rulers with the force of a religion, is a bad sign. It forbids them, like the inquisitor, to admit any grain of truth or good in their opponents, it abrogates the ordinary rules of morality, and it gives a seemingly high, super-personal sanction to all the very ordinary human passions by which, like other men, the rulers will frequently be actuated. In a word, it forbids wholesome doubt. A political programme can never in reality be more than probably right. We never know all the facts about the present and we can only guess the future. To attach to a party programme -- whose highest claim is to reasonable prudence -- the sort of assent which we should reserve for demonstrable theorems, is a kind of intoxication - Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis
If you think a theocracy is such a great idea, go live in Saudi Arabia, then.
(*Crickets chirp *)
...thought not.
Up to a couple of years ago, Ireland was essentially a theocracy: the RCC having absolute control over the government there.
62% of the adult population - via democracy : and a legislation-deciding example of such, no less - proved that said 'Theocracy' had no right to exist.
So what makes you think that yours will...?!
Christian theology is an especially laughable concept as theologies go. Exodus, look at the history of schisms, heresies, and denominations in the Christian church. Really take a moment to let the sheer number of them sink in. Then ask yourself: what if I ended up in a theology run by one of those heretics?
Remember, early religious freedom legislation in what would become the US - though it often included non-Christians as an aside - was intended primarily to stop all the different denominations of loony Puritans from feuding with one another and generally making life miserable as had often been the case in the old country.
Secular government protects the religious as well as the atheist. To a certain extent it protects you from us, but in practice it mostly protects you from each other .
The definition of a madman is somebody who tries the same thing over and over but expects different results. Here, he acknowledges that theocracies do not work, but he still expects that it should be tried again. The conclusion is rather plain: fundamentalism is madness.
@Jamaican Castle
Finally; When Religion and Government are separate, both stay pure. Religion can be misused as a tool of manipulation and control by the unscrupulous and when combined with government it becomes a mess.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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